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The selection of routes and
modus operandi
of smugglers are
based on an assessment of three factors:
• The probability and size of profit to be made;
• The probability of getting caught; and
• The probability of evading compromise, capture, trial, fines
or imprisonment.
In other words, how much money can be made, what is the
risk, and what are the options if caught. An assessment of these
factors can sometimes allow the law enforcement officer, the
experienced intelligence analyst and the investigator to predict
the actions of smugglers.
In principle, wildlife smuggling is done in the following ways:
• Transport over land by foot, horse, donkey, motorbike and
other vehicles;
• Transport by river by boats;
• Transport by sea by vessels;
• Transport by air from fields or airstrips, including helicopters,
small fixed-wing bush planes and larger transport airplanes; and
• Transport by individuals in luggage or through diplomatic posts.
In some instances, wildlife products are smuggled using com-
binations of these options. However, smuggling live animals is
very different from smuggling wildlife products such as ivory or
rhino horn. Great apes are large and smuggling them requires
a great deal of planning and logistics. Unfortunately, most of
the apes that are successfully intercepted and seized are infants
that amateurs are attempting to smuggle in luggage or similar
containers in the hopes of making a large profit. Such smug-
gling methods often lead to the death of the ape.
SMUGGLING METHODS AND ROUTES
Organized traffickers seeking high profits minimize the num-
ber of cargo transfers along the smuggling route, as each han-
dling increases the ape’s stress levels. A fixed feeding setup also
helps to minimize stress and reduces the risk of exposure to
disease. Most important, traffickers aim to minimize the time
that the ape spends in transit. This is not so much due to risk
of compromise, as would be the case with other forms of smug-
gling, as it is to ensure the survival of the smuggled ape.
For this reason organized live ape smugglers prefer to transport
apes by cargo airplane directly to the destination country utiliz-
ing small local air strips. Due to the increase in infrastructure
development and resource extraction projects in ape range ar-
eas, significant numbers of cargo planes associated with these
projects are able to leave from small air strips near or on-site
and travel directly to the Gulf, the Middle East and Southeast
Asia virtually uninspected. Widespread local corruption makes
the bribing or threatening of local customs officers possible
and such incidents have been reported by criminal intelligence,
as well as by the media.
Apes may also be transported by ships and large boats, as the
vessels often go uninspected and cages with food and water are
easily accommodated. Such vessels may visit small ports or im-
provise landings in West Africa and Southeast Asia. On board,
the great apes will remain in the same cage for a long period
of time, thereby reducing stress levels. As of yet, there is little
documentation of this mode of transportation in the modern
trafficking of great apes. However it was the primary method of
transporting live wildlife for centuries.
Transporting apes in trucks over long distances is risky, not
only because border crossings and vehicle check-points in-
crease the risk of interception, seizure and arrest, but also
because they increase the risk that the ape will suffer from
dehydration and stress. Although some such cases have been
intercepted and reported, it is unclear what proportion of trade
they represent. This is also true of the smuggling of infant apes
in luggage on commercial flights. Often these are the methods
used by amateur smugglers, operating in the low-profit end of
the trafficking chain.
Organized live ape smugglers prefer to
transport apes by cargo airplane directly
to the destination country utilizing small
local air strips.